The above animation shows balls continuously dropped through a Plinko board whose height roughly matches the uncertainty in the Economist’s election prediction model, given the states that have been called so far. If you leave your browser open the animation will update automatically when new calls are made.
Why “Semi-Live”? I will update the board as other outlets call states. My speed at updating the board will naturally lag behind others (I am, after all, just one person). The purpose of this visualization is to communicate uncertainty as returns come in, not to be the first one to call the election.
For more information about how the Plinko board represents uncertainty, or for predictions made from polling data before election day, see below.